Grain dusting machine



2 Sheets-Sheet '1 s. J. GOODFELLOW GRAIN nuswme mcnzma Filed llarbh 22, 1937 April 16, 1940.

P 16, 1940- s. J. GOODFELLOW .1 7593 GRAIN DUSTING MACHINE I Filed Mafch 22, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 29 w are .7? 50 26 24 J2 /NVN Toe 61d. GOODFELLOW Patented 16. 1940 UNITED STATES 2,197,693 I GRAIN DUSTING MACHINE Sampson J. Goodfellow, Regina, Saskatchewan,v

. Canada Application March 22,

I 8 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in grain dusting machines and an object of the invention is to provide a device of the character herein described which is automatic in action and will thoroughly impregnate grain passed therethrough with any desired chemical dust.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of the characterjherein described which is'provided with a simple adjustment for varying the quantity of chemical dust discharged from the dust hopper.

A further object of the invention is toprovide a device of the character herein described which is equipped with a mixing chamber in which is located a rapidly revolving wheel designed to produce through intermingling of the chemical dust and grain. f

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of the character'herein described which charge spout to preclude the possibility of free dust passing therethrough.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of the character herein described in which the dust is discharged'from the dust hopper in a great-number of minute quantities.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of the character herein described in which the dust hopper is provided with a'novel type of agitator to prevent bridging of the dust therein.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of the character herein described in which the rate of admittance of dust to the grain is dependent upon the rate of new of grain into the mixing chamber..

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of the character herein described in which the chemical dust is drawn from the dust hopper by a collar aflixed to a reciprocating rod extending into the hopper.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device of the character herein described which is comparatively simple in construction, economical to manufacture and cannot easily become out of order. 1

With the above more important objects in view and such other minor objects as may appear as the specification proceeds, my invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts all as hereinafter more particularly described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which: a

Fig. 1 illustrates a front elevational view of my improved type of grain dusting machine.

is designed with a rotating spinner in the dis- 1937, Serial No. 132,399

Fig. .2 is a side elevational view of the same. Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3l3 of Figure 1.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the agitator indicate corresponding parts in the'different fig- This invention has reference to an improved type of machine designed to dust seed grain to prevent the appearance of smut in the grain after germination. The machine is adapted to use any of the various types of chemical dust now upon the market such as for example, copper carbonate, or the compounds sold under the trade names of Ceresan and Leytosan.

This invention consists of a framework 1 composed offour vertically disposed legs 2 which are joined by upper cross members 3 and intermediate cross members 4 and 5. Suitable braces 6 are also provided in order to produce a rigid structure.

A, grain hopper l is attached to the upper members 3 and converges downwardly into a short rectangular chute 8. Slidably mounted upon the side of the hopper is a gate 9 which extends through a slot I0 at the upper end of the chute. A lever l I is pivotally attached to the hopper and projects outwardly beyond a guide [2 designed to limit the swinging movement of the lever. A short link i3 is secured by pins'to both the lever and the gate and it will be apparent that with this arrangement, manual operation of the lever will cause the gate to close or open the lower end of the hopper.

The lower end of the chute 8 opens into an enlarged housing It which converges at the lower end into .a. spout l5 equipped with a mutually inclined surrounding lip it at the discharge end thereof. It should be mentioned that the point of entry of the chute into the housing is considerably ofi'set from the central axis of the same for a reason presently to be explained.

Extending through'the housing and supportedwithin central bearings mounted upon the cross members 5 is a horizontallyv disposed rotatable shaft IT. A rotor I8 is secured to the shaft within the housing and consists of six radial arms l9 each carrying. a shallow tray 20 at the outer end thereof. Each of these trays during the course of rotationpasses through a horizontal position directly beneath the chute 8 and as well as functioning to revolve the rotor under the influence of grain falling thereonto, also serves to impart momentum to the rotor and finally acts as a fan to create wind within the housing M, thereby causing the maximum disturbance of air therevvithin.

Attached to the vertical side 2! of the grain hopper l is my dust hopper 22 which consists of an elongated receptacle formed with a steeply inclined lower wall 23. A circular aperture 24 is provided adjacent the base of the hopper and is equipped with a flared lip 25 on the outer side thereof. This lip protrudes through a second aperture into the chute 8.

Affixed to the cover of the rotor housing l4 and also to the Wall of the chute 8 is a relatively heavy U-shaped member 21 having aligned orifices 28 in the vertically disposed legs 29 thereof. Slidably mounted within these orifices is an elongated reciprocating rod 30 which extends across the chute 8 and through the aperture 24. A collar 3i is attached adjacent the end of the rod having a diameter slightly smaller than that of the aperture 2 3. A dust agitator 43 is secured to the collar and consists of a length of wire turned to form a series of triangular elements 33, the apex of each element being downwardly disposed. This construction is highly important as it has been found that by using an agitator of this configuration bridging of the dust in the hopper is entirely eliminated as the corners of the triangular dust section cut by the agitator continually crumble and eventually break down the sectional mass.

Aflixed to the rod 30 between the legs 29 of the supporting member 21 is an enlarged collar 34 which is maintained'in position by a set screw 35. A compression spring 36 is interposed between the collar and the outer leg of the support in order to urge the rodinto the dust hopper as will be apparent. Threadably received within an orifice 31 is an adjusting screw 38 which may be locked in any desired position by the wing-nut 39. The head of this screw is designed to engage with the collar 3 3 to limit forward movement of the rod 30 and it will be evident that by adjusting this screw, the depth of penetration of the rod and consequently of the collar 3i into the dust hopper may be varied.

Mounted upon the shaft I1 is a triple acting cam All consisting of a disc 4| from the face of which project three equi-spaced risers 42. One side of each riser is givenarcuate formation while the opposite side thereof is normally disposed with relation to the face of the disc. The direction of rotation of the-disc is indicated by the arrow in Figure 5.

Attached to the central cross bar 4 is a bracket 43 upon which is pivotally mounted an inclined rocker arm M. The lower end of this arm is formed into a finger 45 designed to engage with the risers 42 upon the face of the cam. ,The opposite end of this arm is twisted and bifurcated to pass on either side of the outer end of the rod'30. A small annular member 46 is secured to this rod and the end of the rocker arm is designed to engage therewith in order to shift the rod.

With this arrangement, it will be apparent that when the shaft I1 is rotated, the arm 44 will be given a rocking motion which will reciprocate the rod 30 through three full strokes during each revolution of the shaft. The rod is of course returned in each stroke by the spring 36.

Extending between the inner walls of the spout it are three inclined bafiie plates 41 which are designed to direct material falling thereon against an oppositely inclined baflie 48. Situated adjacent the lower edge of this baflie is a spinner 49 which spans the width of the spout and has a swastika sectional configuration. As material gravitates off the baflie 48, it strikes the spinner and rotates the same at a high rate of speed which ensures that all grain and dust will be thoroughly mixed before discharge fromthe machine.

The structure of the device having been set forth, the mode of operation thereof will now be presented.

The hoppers 'l and 22 are first filled with grain and chemical dust respectively. The gate 9 is then opened permitting the grain to fiow downwardly onto the trays 20 carried by the rotor. The weight of the grain will revolve the rotor at a high rate of speed which will reciprocate the rod 30 through the medium of the arm 44 in the manner already described. This motion will cause the collar 3i to draw a predetermined amount of chemical dust through the aperture 24 at each stroke of the rod. This dust will also fall upon the trays 2t and due to the high speed of the rotor, a dust cloud will be formed in the housing M which will thoroughlyimpregnate the grain. As the mixture spills out of the trays, it will gravitate into the spout 15 where it will pass between the plates 47 and strike the bafile it. From here it will impinge against the spinner 49 rotating the same. This spinner serves to prevent any free dust from passing through the machine as the rapid rotation of this member scatters the dust and ensures contact thereof with the grain.

In order that the machine may be used with any type of chemical dust, the adjusting device 38 has been provided which enables the length of the stroke of the rod 3i] to be varied, thus changing the distance between the face of the collar 3| and the aperture 24. This change will obviously alter the volume of chemical dust withdrawn from the hopper during each stroke. It should here be noted that the dust is admitted to the grain in a great number of minute quantities which precludes the possibility of anyv ain passing through the machine without coming in contact with the dust.

During the operation of the machine, the rocker arm 4 i is raised by the arcuate surfaces of the risers but drops rapidly off the edge thereof. This causes the spring 36 to snap the rod 30 back to its normal position which has a tendency to shake the machine and ensure thoroughagitation of the dust within the hopper.

It should finally be mentioned that the speed of revolution of the rotor is of course dependent upon the quantity of grain gravitating thereon and as the quantity of dust discharged from the hopper is dependent upon the speed of rotation of the rotor, it follows that dust will be discharged into the mixing chamber in proportion to the amount of grain admitted thereto.

From the foregoing, it will now be apparent that I have provided a highly eflicient type of grain dusting machine which is characterized by simplicity and high eficiency.

Since various modifications can be made in the above invention, and many apparently widely.

difierent embodiments of same, made within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is intended that all 7 matter contained in the accompanying specification shallbe interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense and I desire only such limitations placed thereon as are specifically expressed in the accompanying claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A machine for coating with dust the constituents of a granular mass of material comprising, in combination, a framework, a hopper provided with a material discharge aperture secured to said framework, a rotor, a housing forsaid rotor, a dust container. having a dust discharge aperture-communicating with said housing and y a material discharge chute at the base of said framework, said rotor consisting of a shaft journalled for rotation upon said framework, a plurality of radiating arms secured to-said shaft and said dust container comprised with a surrounding wall and a base, said dust discharge aperturebeing positioned at the base of said wall, said dust dispensing mechanism comprises an end-shift.-

able member extending through said aperture into said container. I e

3. The machine as defined in claim 1, which includes a secondary rotating element journalled in said discharge chute to effect a final commingling of said dust with said material prior to discharge of the matter from said machine.

4. A machine for coatingwith dust the constituents of a granular mass of material comprising in combination, a framework, a hopper provided with a material discharge aperture secured to said framework, a rotor, a housing for said rotor, a material dust container having a dust discharge aperture communicating with said housing and a discharge -chute at the base of said framework, said rotor consisting of a shaft and a plurality of radiating arms secured thereto, a material receiving pan being secured to the outer end of each arm and acting to produce air disturbance within said material housing, the'said discharge aperture of said hopper being located above said rotor to one side of said shaft and substantially in vertical alignment with said pans when the latter are in horizontal position, dust dispensing mechanism in association with said dust container and means for actuating said dust dispensing mechanism consisting of a pivoted rocker arm extending between said shaft and said dust dispensing mechanism, the said rocker arm being in bearing engagement with said dust dispensing mechanism, and a cam upon said shaft, said rocker arm being also in bearing engagement at one end thereof with said cam and mounted for movement in a plane normal to the plane of rotation of said rotor. v

5. The device as definedin claim 4 in which said dust dispensing mechanism includes an elongated and spiralled end-shiftable triangulated wire agitatorextending into said dust container,

6. A machine for coating with dust the constituents of a granular mass of material comprising in combination, a framework, a hopper provided with a material discharge aperture secured to'said framework, a rotor, a housing for said rotor, a material dust containerhaving a dust discharge aperture, communicating with said housing and a discharge chute, said rotor consisting of a shaft and a plurality of radiating arms secured to said shaft, a material receiving pan being secured to the outer end of each arm and acting to produce air disturbance within said material housing, the said discharge aperture of said hopper being located above said rotor to one sideof said shaft and substantially in vertical alignment with said pans when the latter are in horizontal position, dust dispensing mechanism in association with said dust container, means operatively connecting said rotor and said dust dispensing mechanism to drive the dispensing mechanism from the rotor, said dust container comprising a surrounding wall and a base, an aperture being provided at the base of said wall, said dust dispensing mechanism consisting of an end-shiftable member extending through said dust discharge aperture into said container.

7. The device as defined in claim 6 which includes a pivoted rocker arm upon said framework,

said rocker arm extending between said end shiftablemember and said shaft, a cam secured to said shaft, one end of said rocker armbeing in engagement with said cam to actuate said endshiftable member upon rotation of said rotor in a direction normal to the plane of rotation of said rotor,'the opposite end of said rocker arm being in bearin engagement with said end-shiftable' member.

8. The machine as defined in claim 6 in which a secondary'rotating element is journalled within said material discharge chute to effect a final commingling of said dust vw'th said material prior to discharge of the latter from said machine.

SAMPSON J. GOODFELLOW. 

